Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cash for Clunkers: another financial mistake in the making

I've been seeing a lot of this "cash for clunkers" crap being spewed out on the news a lot lately. But really, are people who aren't working or making crap for wages because of a failing economy really gaining from this? Hell no! Once again, it's the bankers and auto industry cashing in on this, manipulating people into thinking that the cars they have now are crappy and they need a new car, like a hybrid or something, in order to be better off. Because everyone knows hybrids are so good for the environment and cost way more than your average car. Yeah, you can get up to (operative words being "UP TO") $4,000 for your crap box clunker. In turn, you can buy a new car. Oh boy! That means the crappy car you had before that is paid off, probably cost $300 annually for maintenance and $2000 a year for gas (let's just round up to $2500/yr gross), now you get a NEW shiny car that you get to pay probably $300 a month for (or more depending on how horrible your credit is, and frankly, most people have crappy credit right now) then you get that additional $500 in maintenance because face it, you can't just go to your mechanic, you need to go to the dealer if you want the warranty, plus $2000 in gas, so really you're now in debt approximately $6000. That's more than double what your clunker cost you. Don't get me wrong, the idea of a new, dependable car is tempting, but one of my friends has a newer car and every time I turn around, it's having some sort of issues. So to the greedy manipulative bastards in the auto industry and their banker buddies, thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'll keep my clunker. You just find an honest way to get your sales and make money and stop asking the gov't to fund you... again... and people wonder why our national debt is so damned high...